FEAR has become a mode of life these last ten to fifteen years, and oftentimes we are probably unaware we’re in its grip. The mere mention of the word itself has a knee-jerk reaction.

It’s natural to fear and seek protection, avoid certain things and warn another. Nevertheless, FEAR is NOT natural, for, if it were, Satan wouldn’t be so animatedly bent on wielding it so intensely against us. It would be “acceptable” and, nobody would analyze it as detrimental. However, it is detrimental; rarely does it serve us in fulfilling our potential or any task, and it’s one of the heaviest stumbling blocks to get rid of. Have you ever asked yourself what is he [Satan] so afraid of? Hhmm..

My dear grandma would always take my bath time to open the faucet of her personal experiences and let run the wellspring of her ageing wisdom into my absorbent soul. Her long finger would point at me and at that signal I knew I was going to be sermonized. “No le tengas miedo a nada en esta vida! Ni al dolor, ni la soledad, ni a la muerte! Solo ten le miedo al pecado” [“Fear nothing in this life! Not pain, not loneliness and, not even death! Fear only sin.”] As a thirteen year old who had already been exposed to several surgeries, body braces, a tracheotomy and countless other life and death situations, fear had not merely planted its seed but had strong and rudely roots deepening inside me. She must’ve seen these toughening roots growing wild and, therefore, as a weathered woman, she took the axe and whacked at those roots till they weakened. (continued here)

When I was a small boy, I had my share of nightmares. When I went to sleep, I sometimes woke, imagining monsters. I took no pleasure in horror movies, but I grew. I became more confident in myself, and my sleep became seemingly dreamless. I would simply go to bed and awake refreshed. Only when I encountered what seemed to me a great difficulty did I lose any sleep, and then for only one night.

I have begun to grow old. I have seen others grow old. I can see I am growing old. That time of simple-minded self assurance has passed. My nights have become restless — again.

What usually wakes me is nothing more than the demands of an aging bladder. Occasionally, I experience a dull headache that extends from my neck. That’s what results from sitting in front of books and computers for too many years. However, what sometimes drives out of bed are evil dreams — things to fear that are of my own imagining.

I am not a brave man. I do not have the courage to face my fears. And I do not have a disciplined mind. I do not have the strength to suppress my fears. So I get out of bed, and I pray. After a while I get back in, and I sleep soundly.

“I have learned that if you fear God, you have no one else to fear.” –Oliver Cromwell (from here)

Because Oliver Cromwell ruled as a military dictator and led bloody assaults on the people of Ireland, we may doubt his holiness. Nevertheless, Cromwell was a great warrior, and he fought bravely, and he has told us what gave him his courage.

God tells us to “fear not”. In the Authorized (King James) Version, God and his angels tell us to “fear not” over 50 times. God tells us to “fear not” both in the first and in the last book of the Bible.

17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: 18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

The Bible makes it clear we need not fear for as the Apostle Paul told Timothy:

“I hope we once again have reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There’s a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: as government expands, liberty contracts.” Ronald Reagan.